Published February 2025 in the American Journal of Infection Control

Description: Following a successful pilot study in which DHP® technology significantly reduced environmental bioburden in a long-term care facility in New York State, DHP® deployment was expanded into additional facility units to help mitigate environmental infection transmission. The presence or absence of DHP® notably impacted a subsequent COVID-19 outbreak initiated by staff and propagated through resident interactions. The outbreak involved three of the facility’s units, two of which were contiguous and shared staff and an HVAC system: A-Unit, an 18-bed skilled nursing unit without DHP®, and Memory Lane, a 22-bed memory care unit with DHP®. A third unit, E-Unit, was a 15-bed neurobehavioral unit with DHP®. It was physically separate and had its own staff and HVAC system. Given these differences, the outbreak is described as two distinct events. Event #1 involved the exposure of Memory Lane and A-Unit residents to three staff members who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. Event #2 involved the exposure of E-Unit residents to two additional staff members who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19.

Key Takeaways:

• The attack rate for COVID-19 in A-Unit, which did not have DHP®, was 66.67%, while the attack rate in Memory Lane Unit, which did have DHP®, was zero despite sharing the same staff and HVAC system.
• The attack rate in E-Unit, which did have DHP®, was 13.33% (2 residents tested positive), with no subsequent infections occurring in the unit.
• Given that A-Unit and Memory Lane had the same staff, cleaning, disinfection, and ventilation protocols and were exposed to COVID-19 by the same staff members on the same date, the primary observable difference between the two units was the deployment of DHP® technology.

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